The North Carolina farm that produced eggs linked to a multistate salmonella outbreak operated with unsanitary working conditions and an ongoing rodent infestation, according to an FDA inspection report cited by CNN.
Here are six things to know.
1. Rose Acre Farms recalled nearly 207 million eggs produced at its Hyde County, N.C.-based farm April 13 over contamination concerns.
2. The farm distributed the eggs to nine states: Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.
3. The contaminated eggs sickened at least 23 people and led to six hospitalizations, according to the CDC.
4. During an inspection of the North Carolina farm conducted between March 26 and April 11, FDA officials witnessed live rodents in feed and production areas. They also saw "condensation dripping from the ceiling, pipes and down walls, onto production equipment," which was "visibly dirty with accumulated grime and food debris," according to the inspection report.
5. FDA inspectors said several production employees touched their faces, hair and intergluteal clefts — or the groove between the buttocks — before touching eggs and other food contact surfaces.
6. Rose Acre Farms is drafting a formal response to the FDA's inspection report.
"Until then, we would urge everyone to wait until all the facts are presented before rushing to judgment," company spokesperson Gene Grabowski said in a statement cited by CNN. "It's unfair to be judged on the farm's operation without proper perspective or a chance to formally respond to an incomplete representation of a massive facility that houses more than 3 million hens."